Playing With Fire (30 page)

Then,
something inside Al snapped. Instead of fear acting as a paralyzer, it was
suddenly a motivation. Using all of his strength, Al thrashed against the grip
of the boa, ignoring the pain as it squeezed tighter.

Yuki
could hear her comrade’s distresses behind her, which encouraged her to fight
even harder. Vaze was still flying around slashing the beast as it tried
desperately to knock him out of the air again. Yuki watched patiently as the
beast occupied itself with Vaze, until she saw it stumble. In that split
second, Yuki saw her chance, and seized it. Faster than the eye could track,
Yuki lunged at the beast, and thrust her claws into the beast’s chest, piercing
through its heart. She dug further to sever its spine.

Yuki
growled in victory as her eyes met the eyes of the beast.  Yuki didn’t know
what to expect when she finally gazed into the blood red pools of the beast’s
eyes, but what she saw was certainly something she did not anticipate. Instead
of pain, anger, or even the slightest hint of shock, the beast’s eyes were
amused. A deep rumble of chuckling emerged from the beast’s chest, causing
vibrations to run throughout Yuki’s body. Before Yuki could escape, the beast
grabbed her around the neck and ripped her arm out of its chest, ignoring its
gushing blood as if it were nothing more than a paper cut.

Vaze
shot towards the beast’s head, and rammed his dagger deep into its skull. The
beast didn’t even flinch. With one fluid movement, the beast whipped its arm
around, and back handed Vaze so hard he flew back into the inn, creating a hole
in the wall and knocking Vaze unconscious.

Al
could hear the losing battles all around him as he thrashed in the snake’s
grasp, feeling helpless. Fear clouded his thoughts as he tried to find a spell
to save himself with as the cobra reared back to strike.

 Just
when he was about to give in a small voice spoke in Al’s head. Al couldn’t tell
if it was insanity or not, but he stopped his thrashing and calmed himself. He
knew what had to happen. Al straightened up, taking what little pride he could
as he stared down his executioner. He would not let himself die a coward. The
cobra hissed in amusement and opened its mouth, letting its fangs glint in the
moonlight. Taking aim at Al’s bare neck, it struck.

Kyra
let out a horrified cry as she watched the cobra strike Al. He jerked when the
snake bit him. She could not clearly see where it bit. Tears streamed down her
eyes as the hand around her neck gripped harder, choking her. Matilda laughed with
glee as Kyra’s eyes began to roll back.

“That’s
what you get when you try to defy Velkire!” the witch shrieked with insane
pleasure. “My master shall destroy you all!”

Al
heard the witch’s shrieks of delight, and smiled. The cobra’s fang dug in hard
to where it had aimed, just as Al had hoped for. It almost seemed taken aback
when its partner flung itself to the ground, crumpling in agony as the poison
spread throughout its body. Neither of the snakes had expected Al to move as
fast or as powerfully as he did, and although he had only been able to jerk an
inch or so, it was enough to move the boa in the path of the cobra’s vicious
strike. Now running on pure adrenaline, Al flung out his hand to one side, and
used the spell the voice had instructed him to.

“
Gladium
Angeli!
” With a flash of light, a sword of pure silver formed in his hand, and
he slashed the cobra, slicing the its head clean off. Without missing a beat,
Al charged at the witch. Before Matilda could react, Al stabbed the sword
through her back.

All
at once, time seemed to stand still. The hand around Kyra’s throat disappeared,
and she landed on her knees gasping for breath. The beast fell away into ash,
and Yuki landed on her back, human once again. Matilda gazed up into the sky
with shocked eyes as the cold blade jutted out from her chest. Kyra looked up
in shock as her eyes locked on to the bloody blade, and then to Al behind the
witch.

“Y-you!?”
The witch’s voice came out raspy and wet as she coughed up blood. “Y-you’re
just a child!” Al shoved the blade in farther, and the witch screamed in agony.

“Where
is my sister?” Al hissed the words so coldly Kyra couldn’t even believe they
came from such a sweet innocent boy. The witch chuckled and her lips curled
into a smile.

“You’ll
never make it in time brat,” the witch cackled. “You’re sister will be as good
as dead anyway!” Al put one hand around the witch’s neck and pulled her back
until his mouth was by her ear.

“Tell
me, or I’ll send you to the Forbidden Land where even your black soul will be
devoured.” The witch’s face flashed fear, but quickly changed to amusement.

“Such
an alluring young man you are,” the witch purred. “Very well, I shall reward
you for your efforts with both of your greatest desires. Your sister is in the
lost kingdom of Moraj, hidden by great walls battling a roaring ocean. But if
you go after her, you shall lose a chance of a life time.” The witch slid back
farther onto the blade so that her mouth was at Al’s ear.

“You
will miss the chance to find your parents,” she whispered. “If you wish to pursue
them, your lead is your name.” Al’s eyes widened with amazement. The witch
couldn’t have shocked him more, even if she told him that she wasn’t a woman at
all. The witch’s lips contorted into an insane grin.

“You
really are an alluring young man, Alphonse Lucelles, just like your father…” With
the witch’s last words, her life left her. Unable to concentrate on his spell,
the weapon disappeared from existence and the dead witch dropped to the ground.
The inn disappeared along with the dead snakes and the beast. Gidian hung in
the air for a moment, very confused and still bound, then fell to the empty
ground below, landing with a heavy thud. As soon as he hit the ground, the
binds disappeared, and Gidian got up to dust the dirt off of his clothes.

Yuki
didn’t hesitate to drag Vaze and Siren over, and soon enough all eyes were
trained on him, even though he was still standing shocked beyond words. Taking
his time to realize his audience, Al stood in silence until finally making eye
contact with his master.

“You
almost got everyone killed, you realize that don’t you?” Gidian looked at Al
like a scolding father. Al nodded.

“I’m
sorry master,” was all Al could manage to say. Gidian sighed and shook his
head.

“If
you ever try to trap me again, I’m going to kill you and hang you by your toes.”
Gidian turned towards the vacant spot where the inn had previously stood. “Seems
like our transportation is gone as well.” Gidian sighed again and mumbled a few
words under his breath. In response, the ground before them grew, morphing into
two brown mares connected to a cart.

“We
better get out of here before more of Velkire’s minions try to attack.” No one
disagreed with his logic. Soon after, they were off into the night as Al healed
Siren, Vaze and Yuki’s wounds while Kyra and Gidian conversed about the witch’s
clue to where Scarlet was supposedly hidden.

Although
Al was pretending to listen to Kyra and Gidian, his mind was miles away.

‘
You
really are an alluring young man, Alphonse Lucelles, just like your father…’

The
words echoing over and over in Al’s head were driving him mad. The name she had
called him sounded so familiar, as if it were an old friend forgotten in time
returning unexpectedly after a decade. No matter how hard he tried, Al could
not shake it from his head. Was the witch only calling his bluff? Or was she
telling the truth, and there really was a chance to find his parents? Al had no
answers for either questions, but he craved them.

A
thud against my door caused my eyes to fly open, jolting me out of my slumber.
Outside the glass doors the rain and thunder had stopped, revealing a deep blue
night sky dotted with stars. The fire in the fireplace across the room was
dying, casting a gentle light, but giving more shadows than sight.

My
heart fluttered in my chest as I slowly sat up, my eyes locked on the door that
led out to the castle hallway.  Hesitantly, I slipped my feet out from under
the covers and onto the soft carpet. The silk from my nightgown tickled my skin
as I moved, trying to tempt me back into the comfort of the bed.

As
soundlessly as I could manage, I made my way to the door and put my ear to it
gently. Venomous hisses and swearing came from the other side of the door,
followed by choked breathing and dull thuds against the wall. Then suddenly,
the noises stopped with a soft thud. Another curse was muttered, and impatient
footsteps retreated down the hallway.

Curiosity
ate away at me until the footsteps were faint enough to open the door. My hand
struggled to grip the knob, as if acting as a warning, but the door pushed open
easily. The hallway was poorly lit with torches, and my eyes strained to see
the ground at my feet. A retreating light made its way down the hallway,
growing dimmer with each fleeting second. Going against my instincts, I shut
the door behind me and followed it, only to stop suddenly as my foot stepped on
something limp and warm.

I
looked down, and had to hold back a scream. A dead demon servant lay at my
feet, its eyes just beginning to haze over. I looked back to the light, trying
to purge the sight of the demon from my mind, and tip toed as quickly and
quietly as I could after it.

Eventually,
I got close enough to see who exactly I was following. My heart skipped a beat
when I saw Enzio’s tattered red cape trailing behind him hurriedly. My instincts
were screaming at me to turn back, but my curiosity got the better of me when I
noticed how anxious his steps were. Something wasn’t right, and it was
stressing him enough that he did not notice me.

I
followed Enzio through the hallways with hardly a close call. Eventually he
came to a large intricate door and stopped, causing me to freeze in my tracks
and hide behind a suit of armor. Placing the little candle holster on the
ground, Enzio fumbled with a key in one hand, using the other to hold a small glass
vile with emerald green liquids sloshing around inside of it. Enzio cursed as
he almost dropped the key, and then unlocked the door. With one fluid motion,
he scooped up the candle again and entered, leaving the door open just a crack
with light of a fireplace leaking out into the dark hallway. Hushed voices
floated to my ears, and beckoned me to the door. Hardly breathing, I put my eye
up to the crack in the door, and saw a scene I never expected to see in my
life.

“Enzio!”
Velkire wheezed in between rasping coughs. “I don’t need that damned medicine
you keep giving me!” Velkire was in a large regal looking bed, paler than a
ghost in contrast to his red and black pillows and blankets. Velkire tried to
sit himself up, but Enzio stopped him.

“My
lord, you must take it,” Enzio pleaded. “Without it, your body will fail you.
You must put up with it for now.” Velkire roared in anger and smacked Enzio’s
hands away.

“Don’t
tell me what to do, you mongrel!” Velkire forced himself up, and his covers slipped
down to his stomach. My hand shot to my mouth to stop myself from gasping in
horror as I saw Velkire’s bare torso. Blackish green patches dotted all over
it, with red blood oozing out of each one slowly. The stench of rotting flesh
met my nose, and I had to fight the urge to vomit.

“Master,
take the medicine,” Enzio said coolly. “I promise you your new body will be
ready soon enough. Then you won’t have problems with your flesh rotting away
again.”

Velkire
glared at Enzio, then snatched the vial away and drank it quickly. In detest,
Velkire threw the empty vial to the ground, shattering the fragile glass into a
million pieces. Amazingly, the rotting flesh began melt away and became new again,
leaving a flawless torso with no trace that it had ever been there before.

 “You
better hurry the hell up and purify my new body Enzio,” Velkire hissed. “If I
have to take that foul medicine much longer I’ll have your head for it.” Enzio
flinched, but tried to keep his composure.

“Sir,
please take into account that you placed a demon inside the body as well,”
Enzio started. “I cannot rid your new body of its soul with the sword Alma
Ladron while there is still a demon harbored in it.” Velkire hissed in disdain
and threw his blankets off.

“I’ll
take care of that myself,” he said with his grey eyes flaring up in rage. “Just
make sure Alma Ladron is ready in time.”

Suddenly,
strong arms grabbed me from behind and dragged me back into the shadows of the
hallway. The urge to scream was succumbed by a mixture of shock and fear of being
heard by Velkire and Enzio. Honestly I couldn’t decide which fate was worse,
being tortured by Velkire, or letting who knows what would happen at the hands
of a demon. Not even my racing panicked heart could decide which fate was best
as I was yanked around a corner and pressed up against the wall by a warm but
firm body. The wall opened up into a veranda leading to the courtyard,
revealing a clearing night sky with a dazzling full moon. The moonlight casted
silvery light on the brown locks of my attacker. A hand clasped itself over my
mouth as my perpetrator brought their lips to my ear.

“Make
no sound what-so-ever,” Alastair’s normally strong but now timid voice
whispered into my ear, tickling it with hot breath. “If he sees you,
he will
kill you
.” Alastair pulled his head away, but kept his body pressed against
mine, keeping us glued to the wall. Slowly, he inched us closer to the opening,
until my hand traced against the stone rail and felt the cold air nip at my
heels. Around the corner, the door squeaked as it swung open, and without
warning Alastair scooped me up into his strong arms.

Making
less noise than humanly possible, Alastair hopped over the rail into the open
air of the night, both of our hair flying in each other’s faces as we sailed
towards the ground, landing as though Alastair had the padded feet of a cat.
Heavy footsteps echoed on the stone walls above us as Enzio made his way to the
overlooking veranda we had been just seconds before. My heart squeezed in my
chest with every step he took, as if someone was playfully aiming a knife at my
heart.

Alastair
placed me on my feet and pressed me close against the wall, as if trying to
merge us into the stone. Though his breathing was calm and under control, I
could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, almost in unison with mine.
Both of our pulses sped up dangerously high as the footsteps stopped directly
above us, and in my mind I visualized Enzio peering out over the courtyard with
his venomous red eyes.

A
long agonizing silence lacerated my heart and I fought to keep my breathing as
discrete as possible, though fear kept choking me, making it difficult to
breathe at all. Alastair was like a stone statue, only moving once to press the
two of us closer to the wall, but I only noticed after I felt slightly constricted.
Right when I thought I was about to scream out of pure anxiety, footsteps
retreated away back towards the previous hallway, until they were only soft
echoes of the past threat. When the echo was out of earshot entirely, Alastair
released me, and we both let out a sigh of choked relief.

“Alastair,”
I managed to say in a choked whisper. “What was that?” Alastair looked into my
frightened eyes with a slight regret as opened his mouth to speak, but closed
it again and shook his head with his gaze falling to the ground.

“I
can’t tell you,” he said, not daring to let his eyes reach mine again. “I want
to desperately, but there is only one person who can do that. I’m sorry, but
just can’t.” Quickened footsteps echoed in the halls above us, and Alastair’s
breath stopped in his throat. In one swooping motion, Alastair pressed his hand
against the wall, and to my shock, the brick slid back, and the wall behind me
disappeared, leaving me to fall back in sickly dark surprise.

“Stay
here until I come back for you,” Alastair said with a look of agitation and
fear as I landed on the cold damp ground inside of the trap door; a look that
disappeared when the door snapped shut, taking the light of the moon with it. I
was at a loss of words as I sat alone there in the cold damp darkness, and the
only emotion in my body was utter fear. Suddenly feeling very small, I wrapped
my quivering arms around my knees.

‘Stay
here until I come back for you.’
The words echoed
around in my head as I sat and waited, but the longer I waited the fainter the
words became. Eventually the silence and pitch black darkness got to me, and
with trembling hands I felt my way along the ground, until my fingers traced
the cold stone wall.

Not
letting my hand fall from the stone’s cold touch, I made my way to my feet, and
felt along the wall as I took my first hesitant step. This step was followed by
another, and another, until I was walking along the wall at a steady pace. I
wasn’t sure at all which direction I was going, or what could lie ahead of me,
but my legs would not cease to move, as if they were bewitched.

I
closed my eyes, without much of a change in the pitch darkness that already
surrounded me, and concentrated on the cold stone against my fingertips. Tiny
embers appeared on my skin, and began to grow into wispy flames, illuminating
the black nothingness with a faint orange glow as they crept down my forearm
and traced my fingerprints onto the wall.

Opening
my eyes, I took my hand away and willed the flames to grow in their little
spots of light, until the darkness was fleeing from a large sphere of flame.
Not drawing my attention away from the now roaring flames, I brushed my hands
across them, letting them lick and kiss my hands as if the flames were loving
pets. Easy enough, they followed my hands and spread across the wall, and as I
took my hands away they retreated into every crook and cranny the wall had, making
an intricate flame design.

Satisfied
with my regained sight, I hesitantly let my eyes eat up my surroundings. I
blinked once; then twice. Though I knew my eyes were not wrong, I rubbed them
hard anyway, as if it were an instinct. But even so, my surroundings did not
change, and left me baffled beyond belief.

Though
my flames burned bright, other than my small circle of light, everything was
pitch-black. There seemed to be absolutely nothing that existed besides me and
the flames, and even that seemed to be devoured by the darkness that lurked
around like a hungry beast.

A
new sense of fear draped over me, and out of fright my flames exploded from
gentle pets to a blazing inferno, engulfing myself and the small circle of
light. This proved useless. The darkness still remained. I was practically in
flame, but I was cold. Suddenly feeling very small and helpless, I grasped my
sides shivering.

Beyond
the roaring flames, a new noise reached my ears. It was loud, as if a stampede
was rushing straight towards me, but instead of the rushing of feet or hooves,
a violent whistling pierced my ears. Unable to think, I faced the direction of
this new sound, unsure of what lay in front of me.

As
the noise grew louder my flames began to shy away, until finally I was hit with
a burst of powerful rushing wind, whipping my hair and nightgown back with such
force I thought I might fly back as well. A sharp high shriek that reminded me
of a Shadow stabbed my ears as the wind rushed past, extinguishing my flames
and leaving me alone in the darkness. My heart raced in my chest and my entire
body was shaking violently. I wanted desperately to scream, but no air would
escape my lips.

The
second the wind disappeared along with the shriek, I fell to my knees, as if
the wind had been the only thing holding me up. Gasping for breath, I submerged
my body in new flames.  The warm wisps only greeted my cold skin for a moment
before flickering out like a candle next to an open window on a windy night. I
tried over and over again desperately, but all had the same result. Finally
realizing the fact that I was alone in the darkness without my one defense, I
screamed.

~

It
wasn’t long after Alastair left her that he wished he hadn’t. Although he knew
the way he chose to protect her was the only possible choice, Alastair couldn’t
shake his foreboding feelings of dread and despair. He knew the place he left
her very well. When he had first found it around the time he had first became
Enzio’s servant, it was just a hidden chamber, most likely one that would have
been used to hide precious treasures or perhaps the heir of the palace in the
case that no one could be left to protect them. Yes, that chamber he knew was
very safe. And yet the feeling that he hadn’t chosen right remained.

All
these thoughts dominated in his mind as he walked swiftly to the halls, and
consequently oblivious to virtually everything.

“Alastair,”
A deep raspy voice broke the silence, and nearly made Alastair jump out of his
skin. Immediately Alastair turned to his master, and faced the man whom had
killed his parents so long ago.